Decisions
by IWishIWasAMermaid
Summary: What happens if Keely makes the wrong decision? OneShot.


"**Decisions"**

Keely Teslow sat on the top step of her staircase, her head resting on her knees. She was reminded of her seven-year-old self, sitting there, listening to her parents downstairs. She wanted to be there again, remembering how naïve she was. Her parents would fight back then, but she always woke up to happy, smiling faces. And she had believed that it was all okay. That they wouldn't fight anymore. It was a pity that, as Keely grew, so did the scale of her parents fighting. They began to fight more frequently, and now they could barely stand being in the same room as each other.

"Why can't you understand that it's her future I'm talking about?" Mandy Teslow screamed from the front room.

"I do understand that. You're just telling me things that I don't consider right. I don't think that Keely should follow that path!" David Teslow retorted.

Keely sighed. She hated it when her parents fought, but she despised it more when they fought about her. Her future. It wasn't as if she asked them to. It was her future, and no matter what her Mom or her Dad thought about it, she was going to do what she wanted. Not them. Therefore, it was kind of a silly thing to fight about.

"Why do you have to be so difficult?" Mandy yelled.

"I'm not being difficult!" David cried, and then there was a slap.

Keely winced. Whoever had been hit, it shouldn't have happened. Not ever.

"Why did you slap me?" David cried, and Keely felt tears spring to her eyes, as if she had been the one hit in the face.

"I… I don't know…" Keely heard her Mom stammer.

Keely sniffed, and wiped the tears away from her face. She had always thought this would happen. Even her seven-year-old self would cry herself to sleep, wondering whether her Mommy and Daddy would be getting a divorce, like Tia's Mommy and Daddy. But her parents never knew about it. Because Keely had tried to forget. Tried to think about all of the good times that they had had.

But, when she tried to do that, she saw all the faults. The small things that seven-year-olds are oblivious to.

When they went fishing, Dad had sat next to her in the boat, Mom on the other side. They had said that it was because they both wanted to be next to their little girl, but Keely now knew otherwise.

When they went on long car journeys, like when they had driven to New York for a day or two, they would turn up the radio to avoid talking to each other.

When they stayed in hotels, Mom used to sleep on a pullout couch with Keely. Mandy claimed to be having a sleepover, but now Keely could see.

It had all been arranged perfectly. They pretend nothing was wrong, whilst having the smallest amount of interaction possible. It was the perfect plan. Too bad Keely had to grow up, and notice all the things they did to avoid each other.

"Mandy, why are we always fighting?" David asked, sounding more rational than he had ever before.

Keely titled her head, resting it against the banister; the bars that she used to look through when she was seven. She used to look through, and watch what was happening in the living room, through the reflections in the mirror. If she tried to put her head through now, it might get stuck.

"I don't know, David. We used to fight before Keely was born. Don't you remember? But then, she brought us together. It was when she grew older, that we remembered our differences. Because our attention wasn't fully on Keely anymore. She had her independence. So, we had more time to argue," Mandy sighed.

Keely looked into the living room, into the mirror. Mandy had just sat down on the couch, heavily. David was perched on the other couch.

"Why do we argue though?" David asked, aware that his original question hadn't actually been answered.

Mandy shrugged. "I don't know. We were always very different. Fell in love when we were Keely's age. Thought we could survive anything. Then we found our differences. That's when it all fell apart."

"We were always too different, weren't we?" David asked.

Keely didn't know whether to be glad, or unhappy. A civilised conversation, for the first time in years. But the way this was going, it didn't look good. They were realising that they were too different to be married.

She tried to think about what her life would be like if her parents filed for a divorce. She couldn't. Would she live with her Mom, or her Dad? She didn't want to hurt either of them. Would she still go to H.G Wells? Would she still live in this house? Would she still know who she was?

Keely shook her head. She wasn't even sure that they were splitting up yet, why was she jumping to conclusions?

"I think so. We just didn't see it. Blinded by love. Or what we thought was love," Mandy sighed.

David looked up at his wife. "Mandy, I don't think it'd be a good idea if we stayed together."

Keely sighed, and a silent tear rolled down her cheek. She had been expecting this, yet it still hurt.

"No," Mandy said, after taking a moment to digest this information. "No, I don't."

"Has Keely realised that something is wrong?" David asked, thinking about how his daughter would react to this bit of information.

Mandy looked into the mirror, and saw her daughter, looking through the railings at them. "I think she's always known. Smart girl we have there."

David noticed where she was looking, and turned to the door. His gaze met with his daughter's; her face stained by tears that were flowing fast now. "Keely… Come here honey."

Keely couldn't go over to him. She just couldn't. She didn't want him to think that she was okay with the split, because she wasn't. She wanted her whole family to be together. To be together with each other.

She shook her head, and got up, running down the stairs as fast as she could.

Before David or Mandy could get up, she was out of the door and into the night.

---

She walked along the street, panting a little, due to the running she had done, just to make sure neither her mother or father could have caught up with her.

Keely didn't know what to think.

Part of her was happy. They were going to be happy, and there would be no more fighting. She would have two bedrooms to decorate. And there was no way that either of them would move out of Pickford. So she wouldn't have to leave Phil.

But the other part of her… She wanted both of her parents. When she was sad, she liked being able to go to both of them, at the same time. And get words of advice; hugs. She didn't want to have twice the cleaning up to do. And she didn't want to have to move from house to house when seeing them. She wanted them both in the same house.

She spotted her destination, and ran toward it. Her parents would automatically assume she was there anyway, and so it wouldn't exactly be a good hiding place, but she had to have him near her.

Keely knocked on the door, and when he opened the door, fell into his arms, and let it all out. All of her despair, her happiness, her confusion. She told him everything.

"Keels, you do what you want to. Just because your parents are divorcing, as unhappy as you may be about it, doesn't mean you have to run your life differently. Your parents cannot alter your decision, and should not. One of them will be disappointed, but you can't do anything about that. But you can do something about your happiness," he advised her.

She thought about this for a minute. He was right. Her dreams, and her decision shouldn't be clouded. If she was happy living with her Mom, then she should live with her Mom. How her Dad felt, had no input. She would feel bad, sure, but he would have to live with that.

Keely looked up at her friend, and smiled. "You always know the right thing to say Phil. And I love you for that."

"I love you too Keels," Phil smiled, glad he was able to help his best friend.

There was no right decision or wrong decision. Just a different adventure on each side.

**Okay, yes, I know that I still have to finish Revenge, but I'm stuck. So, I'll update as soon as I can. Because I have to write a story for English, and then I have to do final exams, and prepare for my holiday… but next week is our last week at school, so bear with me until then, and I promise I'll write a long chapter for you. **

**Savvy? **


End file.
